'Die! Mommie' earns laughs, gasps
THEATER REVIEW | Script's a drag but director pulls it off
"Die! Mommie, Die!" just might be the perfect Mother's Day gift -- for those moms with a twisted sense of humor, especially when it comes to seeing a grown man in mommy's clothes.
Hell in a Handbag Productions, known for its brand of drag-camp comedy, has taken a break from producing original work to mount the Chicago premiere of Charles Busch's show.
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The opening cinematic sequence, projected onto a large dust cover thrown over some furniture on the stage, sets up the "Valley of the Dolls" meets "Dead Ringer" premise nicely. Set in 1967, the play is both an homage to and sendup of '60s horror films starring aging screen legends.
Artistic director David Cerda plays Angela Arden, a former A-list actress and singer who lost her voice after the tragic suicide of her twin sister. (Cerda's Arden is equal parts Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Lana Turner and Rita Hayworth.) Arden is stuck in a loveless marriage to Sol Sussman (Ed Jones), a fiftysomething, constipated Jewish movie producer. In an act of cruelty, he foils his wife's latest attempt at a comeback before it can even begin, cuts up her credit cards and essentially keeps her prisoner in their modestly furnished Beverly Hills home.
She receives no comfort from her daughter Edith (Veronica Sheaffer in a performance equally innocent and creepy). Edith competes with her mother for her father's affections. Arden's son Lance (the equally amusing Zach Geoffroy) is a mentally unbalanced college dropout who loves his mother a little too much.
Director Cheryl Snodgrass keeps the 90-minute, intermission-less show zipping along. Fight choreographer Sara Pitard is also to be commended for a scene involving a scissor toss that was handled particularly well and elicited both gasps and laughs.
The show's flaw is Busch's script. After taking his time to set up the premise, characters and plot, the playwright resolves things a bit too quickly and neatly. The end is neither particularly believable nor satisfying.
